Finally, its up!
Until I have a proper video put together explaining the film's history, here's a excerpt from CandleFlameFilms.com:
Oh, god.
Well, as many first features go, this isn't my proudest moment. The film was shot over the course of several years, and gave me the building blocks of knowledge (and then more!) for future film making. It was a zombie film, was shot unscripted, with the only parts usually written out in advance being dialogue. During the production I learned editing, shot composition, camerawork, makeup and visual effects, and the importance of planning in advance so as not to spend years on a f*%king cheapo zombie movie!
The plot was originally that two survivors of a zombie apocalypse are trying stay alive in a city infested with zombies, while military forces are constantly bombing the surrounding area to wipe out the undead, unwittingly jeopardizing the survivors'...well, survival.
However, this idea quickly fell apart, and a new idea was hatched. Perhaps we could make it up as we went along, have the film take place over the course of a year, and shoot 5 minutes of footage a month! We could call it Year Of The Dead, and at the end of the year we would have an hour long feature length movie!
Nope.
Anyhow, I basically made up the story as we went along, following the story of 2 groups of survivors in a world of the living dead. The zombies in question were created by a voodooist street gang to try and convince people that voodoo was an acceptable religion. However, the zombies they create quickly get out of hand, and the virus spreads and engulfs the planet (not a bad idea, and I intend to someday make a movie out of this idea in itself). But anyhow, back to the characters. The first is a duo (which is quickly reduced to one), who meets up with another group of survivors, who in turn try to find their way to another, safer city. However, one of them is captured by voodooists, who perform a religious ceremony on him, which slowly, painfully, transforms him into a "conscience memberof the living dead", and we witness his transformation over the course of a year. The second group of people was a soldier/scientist duo (again, quickly reduced to one), and we witness this soldier's attempts to survive over the course of a year.
However, things changed many times after this. Characters were cut, and added in later (however, this is not visible in the final version of the film, as the behind-the-scenes chaos does not... for the most part, end up on the screen). Plots were changed, new footage was added from other projects, scenes were reshot years apart from each other... it was a mess, but it was finally finished!
What do you get? A movie called Epidemic: Voodoo, a zombie film with a running time made up of 64 minutes, minimal gore, and characters who seem to age from scene to scene. The aspect of it taking place over the course of a year was dropped, and because of lack of planning, the main character is never introduced in a manner where his name is mentioned (*smack*). However, I am proud to have completed the film after spending so many years on it, and to be able to present it in a more or less coherent manner. But to be clear, it does in NO WAY represent my current capabilities as a film maker. However, I do like the first 20 minutes or so. That was shot most recently, and is, in my opinion, the "tightest" segment of the film... whatever thats worth.
If anything, this film is a case study in the necessity of having a script prior to making a feature length film, but also shows what can be done when sheer determination is involved. All in all, good times, bad movie. Moving on...
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EPIDEMIC: VOODOO (2009) - Part 2by CandleFlameFilms138 views
if this was your 1st short film...your really good
Teyethegreat 1 year ago
@Teyethegreat Thanks bud! However, it wasn't my first film making experience. The film was shot over 2 and a half years, but near the end we reshot alot of early scenes which sucked really bad. What you're seeing here, in terms of video, was put together really quickly to meet a deadline we had at the time. However, the audio is being either replaced or improved for this online release. Just trying to make it as good as possible!
CandleFlameFilms 1 year ago
Dude, the atmosphere and everything about this short intro was absolutely stunning! You really out done your self with this project, it all looks reall, professional! By the way is the music composed for the piece? or did you scavenge for it on the internet?
Gragorathegiantsnowb 1 year ago
@Gragorathegiantsnowb Thanks for the kind words, sir! However, if you read the comment I wrote above, you'll get more of an idea what I, personally, think about the project. This is all early work, and is no way up to my current standards. However, for this Youtube release, I've gone through and am redoing most of the music and doing some re-edits. Alot of the stuff here were loops that came with an editing software I own, but the fight music was all original, as well as the film's theme song :)
CandleFlameFilms 1 year ago
this is really great so far man, has an erie atmosphere to it all. Especially the part where the narrator is explaining what happened and there's just disturbing shots of zombies. Something unsettling about it when you listen to it. Well done!! :)
Newmie13 1 year ago
@Newmie13 Thanks man, and thanks to everyone else for the kind words! HOWEVER, I want to stress that this film is early work, and isn't anything that special. To me, the visual aspect is all messed up, and most of the early music I did stank, so I've been going through and redoing it... again! There's a video coming soon with me talking about the film's history, and trust me, there's a LOT to it! For a taste, check out what's written in the description.
Glad you're enjoying it, but I'm cringing
CandleFlameFilms 1 year ago